1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a surface-mount connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
One prior known surface connector of this type is shown in FIG. 6.
In this Figure, a housing 1 in the form of a generally flattened box has a plurality of connection terminal receiving holes 1a arranged in a transverse direction. A terminal 2 is inserted at one end portion in each connection terminal receiving hole 1a, and the other end portion of the terminal is projected from the housing 1 and bent toward the bottom of the housing. A pair of U-shaped grooves 1b are formed in the housing 1 at opposite side portions thereof and are disposed respectively on opposite sides of the group of connection terminal receiving holes 1a. The U-shaped groove is formed in three surfaces of the housing 1, that is, extending from an upper surface of the housing 1 to its bottom surface through its side surface. A U-shaped holder 3 is fitted in each of the grooves 1b. The holder 3 is exposed in surrounding relation to the housing 1 in such a manner that part of the holder 3 is received in the groove 1b.
In this construction, each of the terminals 2 is inserted at its one end portion into an associated connection terminal receiving hole 1a in the housing 1, and each of the holders 3 is slidingly fitted in a respective one of the grooves 1b in the outer surface of the housing. Thereafter, when the housing is placed on a predetermined portion of a board 4, the end portions of the terminals 2 projecting from the housing 1, as well as end portions of the holders 3, are contacted respectively with pads 5 formed on an upper surface of the board 4, as shown in FIG. 7, and the end portions are fixedly secured to the respective pads 5 by reflow soldering.
In the above conventional surface-mount connector, the housing is held by the U-shaped holders 3 fitted on the outer periphery of the housing 1. Thus, the housing is fittingly clamped by the holders, and therefore there has been encountered a problem that the housing can be easily disengaged from the holders.
If a retaining pawl for withdrawal prevention purposes is provided on the holder as shown in FIG. 8, the body of the holder 3 is deformed as shown in FIG. 9 when the holder is attached to the housing 1. As a result, the end surfaces of each holder 3 and the terminals 2 shown in FIG. 7 will not be disposed in a common plane, so that the thus lifted terminals can not be secured to the pads 5 by soldering. Furthermore, if the direction of insertion is slightly wrong when attaching the holder to the housing, the holder can be easily opened, so that the end surfaces are not disposed at a common level as in the above case, thus causing imperfect soldering.